The embryonic general-election campaign for governor took a combative turn in Silicon Valley on Thursday after Attorney General Jerry Brown accused GOP rival Meg Whitman of living in a protective “bubble” — afraid to debate without a script.

Whitman, who won a resounding victory against Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Tuesday to capture the Republican nomination, blasted back minutes later by claiming the former governor and Oakland mayor had failed at every political job he’s ever had. She said she’d be happy to answer Brown’s call for 10 town hall-style debates once he comes up with “10 ideas on how to fix California.”

“Then we’ll have something to talk about,” the former eBay CEO told reporters after a spirited rally attended by 200 sign-waving supporters at San Jose’s Tech Museum of Innovation.

Whitman announced at the event that she had just accepted an offer from NBC affiliates to debate Brown on Monday, Oct. 11. The California Broadcasters Association and the Public Policy Institute of California will also sponsor a gubernatorial debate during a live, 90-minute broadcast set for Tuesday, Oct. 5.

Whitman argued that she, unlike Brown, has released a detailed plan to slash spending and make California more business-friendly, but that her Democratic opponent has done nothing of the sort.

“Make that website come alive,” she advised Brown.

But Brown, who was visiting Fremont’s Solaria Corp., contended that Whitman “doesn’t have a plan; she has a pamphlet, and most of it is pictures.

“Meg, I’ve read your pamphlet,” he said of the glossy, 48-page publication. “Let’s get together on a platform and discuss it.”

Brown added: “The path forward is going to be honesty — not pamphlets and consultants’ scripted propaganda, but straight talk. Frugality, not flying around in private planes in a bubble of security guards and people protecting you every moment.”

Democrats went to Solaria, a solar manufacturing plant, to highlight their commitment to the environment, green jobs and a clean-energy future.

Brown was flanked by other members of the Democratic ticket for this fall: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, nominee for lieutenant governor; San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, nominee for attorney general; Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, nominee for insurance commissioner; and three state officeholders seeking re-election — Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Controller John Chiang and Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

Each candidate paid homage to Brown for having had the foresight as governor three decades ago to lay the ideological and policy groundwork for a renewable-energy industry now flourishing in the Golden State.

“Let’s not talk about the last 33 years; let’s talk about the next 33 years,” Brown then urged.

When asked about GOP accusations that he, Newsom and Harris amount to a “liberal San Francisco ticket” that’s out of touch with most California voters, Brown responded that he comes from “the hardscrabble city of Oakland, the mean streets.”

He stressed that he’d led a bare-bones mayoral staff to take on major fiscal challenges, whereas Whitman has just proved herself “probably the most wasteful campaign spender in the history of California, if not of America.”

In her bitter fight against Poizner, Whitman, a billionaire, spent about $90 million — $71 million out of her own pocket.

The Fremont event also highlighted how the two parties view California’s groundbreaking global warming bill, AB 32. Advocates, including many Democrats, say it’s creating badly needed jobs in a critical sector of the economy.

But Whitman called for a one-year moratorium on most AB 32 rules governing greenhouse gas emissions, out of concern that the regulations will drag down the economy.

The solar-plant setting gave a reporter opportunity to have fun with the nickname Brown has tried to shake for decades: “Governor Moonbeam.” He’s carried the sobriquet since his earlier hitch as governor in the 1970s, when he suggested the state launch an emergency communications satellite.

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